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Can ultrasound of the heart provide a window into a dangerous heart rhythm disorder?
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart rhythm disorder that can cause a stroke and other major health issues. Although we have treatments to reduce these risks, we do not know to whom they should be given, because AF is often ‘silent’. That is, most people with AF do not know they have it (especially people with diabetes), and we often have to monitor the heart for many weeks to see it.
With no blood tests for AF or other good ways of knowing who is likely to have it, our game-changing study could pave the way for early detection. Based on initial evidence, certain heart abnormalities picked up via ultrasound (‘echo’) – abnormalities often seen in diabetic heart disease – are strongly linked to AF. Our study will therefore look for AF among people with diabetes with these echo abnormalities, and a group with normal echo results, and verify that this new method can indeed be used to identify people at high risk. Given echo is now a common medical test, the results could transform the way we screen for AF and prevent hundreds of strokes per year.
Last updated16 July 2025